After a nice lunch in the pub, my wife and I decided to make the most of the warm, sunny weather by going for a walk to the lake at Eske/Pulfin Fen, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The warmth had made most of the birds rather lazy at this time of day, but a few Skylarks were singing away, creating a real atmosphere of birding in Britain on a lovely sunny spring day. A little way along the river a distant dog walker disturbed a small bird which settled in the vegetation next to the river, about 10 mentres from where we were standing. My immediate impression was that it was a Jack Snipe and I managed to confirm this by tracking it down and observing it from about 3 feet until it finally flew away south. Jack Snipe is a species I do not see very often but birding in East Yorkshire is a good way to come across one at the right time of the year. Read more »
Gull Feeding Frenzy at Samut Sakhon | Birding in Thailand
A beautiful sunrise, thousands of birds, the sound of the sea; all the ingredients for one of the world’s birding hotspots, but in reality this is the atmosphere I was able to enjoy on a short morning excursion from Bangkok when visiting the “Red Bridge” coastal boardwalk in neighbouring Samut Sakhon province. Rather than being [...]
Birds in a Park in Bukhara | Birding in Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan is one of those countries that is great for birding and at the same time extremely interesting in touristic terms too; an ideal place to travel with a non-birding partner and then to find time to go birding in locations near the tourist spots and to visit some really spectacular scenery. In late April [...]
Top 5 Birds of Vietnam Birding Tour 2025 | Birding in Vietnam
Vietnam is the country in mainland Southeast Asia with the highest number of endemic species and the best place to see a number of regional endemics too as well as a fantastic supporting cast of more widespread birds. Leading the Calidris Birding Tours trip to Southern and Central Vietnam in March/April 2025 gave all participants [...]
A Day Birding in Qatar | Birding in Qatar
My annual migration between Thailand and UK has not only seen the cost of direct flights rise dramatically but I have grown very tired of sitting on a plane for twelve hours, if only I was able to make the journey under self-powered flight like a Bar-tailed Godwit! Indirect flights are, of course, a solution [...]
Parakeets & Peafowl | Birding in Thailand
One thing I have learned over the years that I have been bird watching is that there are many different ways for people to enjoy birds. I started birding by going on long country walks in England with birds being perhaps the most accessible category of wildlife to enjoy along the way. Friends of mine [...]
Gulls in Bridlington Harbour | British Birding
April 2nd, 2007 
Nick Today, a brief shopping trip to Bridlington gave me some time to check out the birds in the harbour. With the tide in, and given the time of year, there were not too many species around; just large numbers of Herring Gulls of all ages. A single Lesser Black-backed Gull, a few Common Gulls and a lone Black-headed Gull provided at least a little variety and the only waders present were about twenty Ruddy Turnstones feeding on scraps left over from the day’s visitors.
Despite the low number of species it was interesting to sit and watch the gulls interact with each other and squabble over the food remains left lying around near the fast food outlets next to the harbour and it gave me plenty of opportunity to get some photos of them, with perfect light available and close-up views of the semi-tame birds. While gulls are not every bird watcher’s favourite group of birds, what I like about them is that it is often possible to watch them at close quarters and they have a lot of character. Read more »
Sunny Swinemoor
March 26th, 2007 Nick With it now officially being spring I went to Swinemoor Common in high expectation of something interesting having arrived by now; I wasn’t disappointed!
A good amount of water still remains creating a nice habitat for wetalnd birds. A large flock of around 200-300 Golden Plovers were bathing and their numbers were growing by the minute. Around 20-30 Lapwings were dotted around the common, defending territories, occasionally making their wierd, synthesizer-like call. 3 Common Snipe were involved in an on-and-off dispute and 2 Common Teal were feeding in the shallows. However, by far the best bird was a single Spotted Redshank which was very obligingly feeding very close to the path. At first I thought it was just a Common Redshank as there were around 6 feeding further away, but as soon as I looked through my binoculars it was obvious that this bird was a Spotted Redshank – the first time I’ve seen this species at Swinemoor.
Other interesting species were singing Skylarks, 5 Pied Wagtails feeding, 7 Meadow Pipits in song and a small flock of gulls: 5 Common Gulls, 9 Herring Gulls and 14 Black-headed Gulls.
Hornsea Seafront
March 6th, 2007 Nick My wife, Srasri, decided she wanted to go for fish and chips at Hornsea after work this afternoon, so off we went to make the most of the late afternoon sun. As usual we had too many chips, so we decided to feed what was left to the gulls.
After a few seconds we had around 50 Black-headed Gulls circling around. It was amazing to watch their aerial acrobatics as they caught the chips in mid-flight. Only once was there nearly a collision when 5 gulls all backed out of making the catch at the last minute with the chip falling into the sea.
We moved further up the seafront to a place where the sun was still on our backs and continued our chip tossing for the gulls. However, most of the chips were missed in flight and fell into the sea before being gobbled up. It became obvious that the sun was in their eyes and they were unable to judge the catching distance properly. We moved back into a shady patch and immediately the gulls catch rate went back up to almost 100%.
Other birds present were lots of Herring Gulls, Common Gulls and a single Lesser Black-backed Gull (graellsii). Also, 5 Red-throated Divers were on the sea and two Cormorants flew past. Interestingly, the Divers were still in winter plumage but the Cormorants had the white leg patch that indicates they are in breeding condition.
Signs of Spring at Swinemoor
March 6th, 2007 Nick Maybe I’m being too optimistic but all around me I’m beginning to see signs of spring all around me. Yesterday, my birdwatching walk on Swinemoor, brought me yet more spring-like experiences. Although there was still a large congregation of wintering gulls, including around 200 Black-headed Gulls, 150 Common Gulls and 6 Herring Gulls (5 adult, 1 first winter), plenty of birds were in song. Four Skylarks were in full song throughout my circuit of the common and lots of Meadow Pipits were performing their song flight. From a nearby copse of trees several Chaffinches were singing (if you can call it a song) and a single Yellowhammer was “tuning up”.
There were still plenty of Lapwings across the wet grass but rather than standing together in a flock they were dotted around, spaced apart regularly by about 30 metres as if they were establishing territories for nesting. Only a few Golden Plover were present (7 to be exact) but I’m sure more are still turning up to roost.
Other birds of interest were a Grey Heron catching frogs from a ditch and a group of Tree Sparrows bickering in a hawthorn bush.
Bridlington Harbour
March 4th, 2007 Nick Despite the fact that there are some signs of spring around such as flowering snowdrops, lesser celandine and even some leaves opening on small trees, a short trip to Bridlington harbour yesterday afternoon proved that winter is still in town with a number of wintering waders still obvious.
Along the southern side of the harbour wall 18 Purple Sandpipers were feeding amongst numerous Turnstones. The Turnstones here are quite amusing, having learnt to scavenge for chips. Yesterday a couple were eating their fish and chips with a crowd of Turnstones assembling on the wall next to them. When eventually they threw a piece of fish batter to them, one lucky Turnstone ran off with the spoils, chased by three others; I hope they shared it nicely!
Others waders present on the beach were Redshank, Dunlin, an Oystercatcher and a few Sanderling.
In the harbour there were hundreds of Herring Gulls waiting to be fed with chips, donuts, ice cream or whatever else was thrown their way. Most of the birds were adults or first winter, with a few second winter birds. Also present was a single adult Yellow-legged Gull making itself available for study at close quarters: three feet to be exact!
That was it for birds as my wife dragged me off to the shops to search for fresh shrimps for dinner.
The Start of Spring migration?
February 26th, 2007 Nick A breezy walk to Eske/Pulfin Fen was the first for a while due to the fact that I’ve been feeling pretty rough recently. Still with a fuzzy head I marched up to the lake, flushing a male Yellowhammer from underneath a bush with a few Skylarks in song.
At the lake still a lot of ducks; Wigeon, Mallard, Teal, Gadwall, Pochard and Tufted Duck. Two female Goldeneye on the river and a male on the lake were signs that winter is still not over and a male Pintail was another indication of that. However, a few recent arrivals also suggest that spring is on its way. Four Oystercatchers were squabbling over a territory and two Shelduck were also present. These two species are not present at Eske in the winter but do turn up in spring, with the Oystercatchers staying to breed.
Another nice bird was a Goldcrest singing and some male Chaffinches calling from a nearby copse were also convinced that spring is coming. I can only share their optimism and hope that some migrants might begin to pass through and liven things up – I’ve grown a little tired of the winter ducks. Notably, there were no Redwings or Fieldfares today and only small numbers of Blackbirds : it seems that they may have departed already.
